After 81 years, Lutheran Radio says its final 'Amen' on WTMJ

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Published on: 2/25/2009

In another sign of the bad economy having an impact on broadcasting traditions, one of the nation's longest-running religious programs is moving to WJYI-AM (1340), where it will air Sundays at 7 a.m. starting this weekend.

The Lutheran Radio Church Service that began airing Sunday mornings on Feb. 19, 1928, on WTMJ-AM (620) found a new home after WTMJ management decided to stop donating the half-hour hour of weekly airtime as it has done for decades.

The service's board of directors decided it couldn't afford to lock into a two-year contract at $1,000 a week and stay with WTMJ.

The airtime will cost a quarter of that on WJYI, the station confirms. WTMJ didn't return phone calls from Inside TV & Radio.

Shows continue to alternate between pastors of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Luther Synod, as they have for years.

The first broadcast began at 8:30 a.m. and was an hour long. The old Milwaukee Journal reported that the premiere radio service was conducted by the Rev. William Grother of St. Martini Lutheran Church. His sermon: "Simply to Thy Cross I Cling."

The prelude and postlude were played on the Journal studio organ by A.W. Kow, organist of the Bethany Lutheran Church.

The show's new home, Saga Communications' WJYI, sells its airtime to religious groups and ethnic organizations. Its program schedule is at www.joy1340.com.

WTMJ is owned by Journal Broadcast Group, which, like the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, is part of Journal Communications.

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